[acimlessons_list] Lesson 229 - August 17

[Sue Roth]

Lesson 229 - August 17

"Love, Which created me, is what I am."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See complete Part II practice instructions. A short summary:

* Read the commentary paragraph slowly and personally.

* Pray the prayer, perhaps several times.

* Morning and evening: Repeat the idea and then spend time in Open Mind
Meditation.

* Hourly remembrance: Repeat the idea and then spend a quiet moment in
meditation.

* Frequent reminders: Repeat the idea often within each hour.

* Response to temptation: Repeat the idea whenever upset, to restore peace.

* Read the "What Is" section slowly and thoughtfully once during the day.

Practice comments: When you repeat today's idea, you may want to repeat it
in the spirit suggested by the first paragraph. Realize this idea represents
the end of all your seeking. All along you've been seeking to answer a
single, paramount question, "Who am I?" And here, in this idea, you've found
that answer. Try to repeat it in that spirit.

COMMENTARY

Many of these lessons in Part II of the Workbook may seem to be expressing a
state of mind that is beyond where I am as I read them. In reality, they
express my <true> state of mind, the state of my right mind. It is this
state of mind we can reach in the holy instant. Right-mindedness is not some
future state I am trying to reach. There is an aspect of my mind that
already knows these things and already believes them. It is this part of my
mind that is leading me home. "Now need I seek no more" (1:2) is the truth
right now. It is the part of my mind that doubts this, that denies it, which
is unreal.

Love <is> what I am; It is my Identity. Let me look honestly at what I
believe I am instead, because it is in discovering what Love is not that I
will come to know Love.

Love is not learned. Its meaning lies within itself. And learning ends when
you have recognized all it is <not>. That is the interference; that is what
needs to be undone. (T-18.IX.12:1-4)

Love waited for me, "so still" (1:4). Love is still because that is what
forgiveness does; it is "still, and quietly does nothing" (W-pII.1.4:1). My
own Love waits to forgive me all I think I have done, all that I have
believed I was other than Love. I actually "sought to lose" my Identity
(1:5), but God has kept that Identity safe for me, within me, as me. "In the
midst of all the thoughts of sin my foolish mind made up" (2:1), my Father
kept my Identity untouched and sinless. Let me turn to that Identity now.
Let me give thanks, and express my gratitude to God that It has never been
lost, even when I was sure It was. I cannot be anything other than what God
created me to be. "Love, Which created me, is what I am."

In my heart, in my mind, in the still and tranquil core of my being, lies
everything I have ever been seeking for. Let me now remember.

WHAT IS FORGIVENESS?

Part 9: W-pII.1.5:1-2

Faced with this stark contrast between forgiveness and unforgiveness, what
then are we to do? "Do nothing, then" (5:1). We are not called upon to <do>,
we are called upon to cease doing, because there is nothing that need be
done. To the ego, to do means to judge, and it is judgment we must
relinquish. If we feel there is something that must be done, it is a
judgment that affirms lack within ourselves, and there is no lack. That is
what we must remember. To believe that something must be done is a denial of
our wholeness, which has never been diminished.

"Let forgiveness show you what to do, through Him" (5:1). To forgive
ourselves means to take our hands off the steering wheel of our lives, to
stop trying to "make things right," which only affirms that something is
wrong. To forgive others means we stop thinking it is our job to correct
them. The Holy Spirit is the One Who knows what we should do, if anything,
and His guidance will often surprise us. Yes, there may still be something
for us to "do," but we will not be the ones to determine what that is. Our
doing is so often deadly, quenching the spirit instead of affirming it,
imparting guilt instead of lifting it.

The Holy Spirit is my Guide and Savior and Protector. In each situation
where I am tempted to do something, let me stop, remember that my judgment
is untrustworthy, let go, and give it into His hands. He is "strong in hope,
and certain of your ultimate success" (5:1). How often in a time when I am
judging, whether myself or another, am I certain of my ultimate success? Let
me then give the situation into the care of One Who is certain. He will show
me what to do.

"He has forgiven you already, for such is His function" (5:2). Each time I
bring Him some terrible thing I think I have done, let me remember: "He has
forgiven you already." I do not need to fear entering His Presence. His
function, His reason for being, is to forgive me. Not to judge me, nor to
punish me, nor to make me feel bad, but to forgive. Why would I stay away an
instant more? Let me fall gratefully now into His loving arms, and hear Him
say, "What you think is not the truth" (W-pI.134.7:5). He will still the
troubled waters of my mind, and bring me peace.